Copyright marshallislandsjournal
GIFF JOHNSON The truth is that infrastructure in the RMI is largely in bad condition and everyone in RMI experiences the fallout. Here is a snapshot of an average week in the Marshall Islands. For two Wednesdays in a row, the downtown area experienced unplanned outages — which were centered around faulty lines, above and below ground, and faulty transformers in general vicinity of Flame Tree/Formosa. But last Wednesday’s outage wasn’t a four-hour outage as the previous Wednesday. It went off at 1:30pm and power wasn’t restored until around 7pm. In less than an hour, however, power clicked off again and stayed off for 27 hours as MEC distribution crews grappled with multiple faults in the system. Power was finally restored on Thursday night at 10pm. This impacted production of last week’s edition of the Journal, normally printed on Wednesday evenings, causing a 24-hour delay on its distribution. As a consequence of the extended outage, the Journal’s resilient printers fired up the web press to print the newspaper at midnight Thursday. As this outage was in progress last week, MEC had already announced two planned outages for Monday and Thursday this week. Monday’s for the power plant to Laura and Thursday’s from the power plant to Ejit Island. These planned all-day outages are for MEC to upgrade its vacuum circuit breaker protection systems to digital technology. “This upgrade will enable MEC to locate and address faults in the distribution network more accurately and quickly, ultimately improving service reliability for all customers,” according to MEC. MEC also received news last week that the US government has approved over $18 million for MEC to purchase three additional generators — to go with the two built as part of the World Bank-funded power improvement program — for the Majuro power plant. But like all of the ongoing developments, until the power plant building is completed some time next year, the engines installed and tested, and the distribution system improved through an Asian Development Bank-funded program, MEC will continue to face challenges to reliably providing power to Majuro customers. Then there is the National Telecommunications Authority, which for various reasons has been experiencing service outages for its systems here, Ebeye and the outer islands. Monday this week, people living from Ajeltake to Laura experienced the “double whammy” of no power and no telecommunications capability. NTA announced that its backup generator at its Ajeltake site malfunctioned Monday during the MEC power outage. The lack of power affected all services from Ajeltake to Laura, NTA announced in a mass text. Meanwhile, another announcement from NTA was issued on November 3, which confirmed that problems impacting mobile services for Ebeye and the outer islands were still not entirely resolved nearly one month after they were first announced on October 6. “The issue affecting mobile services in Ebeye and neighboring islands is in its last process of completing,” said NTA Monday this week. “Our technical team is still actively working to resolve the problem.” NTA is rolling out a US-funded fiber to the home project that once completed, possibly at the end of next year, will dramatically improve communications services through use of fiber cable. As with MEC, these attempts to fix aging and deteriorating infrastructure by NTA remain a work in progress with an extended timeline to completion. Although NTA and MEC services are most in view, equipment at Majuro hospital can also be an issue. The lack of a functional hyperbaric machine in Majuro resulted in the RMI government using Air Marshall Islands to medivac a man to Kwajalein who developed the “bends” while diving off Eneko Island in Majuro over the weekend. Kwajalein maintains a hyperbaric chamber. Majuro hospital had one and used it for many years in the 2010s mostly for effective treatment of diabetes-caused sores, including slow-healing cuts, scrapes, calluses and deep open sores. Covid response in 2020 resulted in halting the use of the hyperbaric chamber at the hospital.The chamber was disconnected from the air compressor after the hospital built its Covid isolation ward. As a result of being disconnected from the air system, the chamber rusted from salt air and no one was operating it, according to hospital officials. There were two attempts to repair it involving an Australian company, but as things often go here, there were delays in managing the contract and funding for the work lapsed. The hospital continues looking for funding to get the chamber back into operation. In other NTA news: NTA ended the life of old equipment last month to make way for reliance on higher-quality telecommunications gear. NTA announced last Friday that it officially decommissioned its Digital Multiplex System (DMS), marking the end of an era and the beginning of a fully digital network transformation. After over 30 years of service, the DMS was powered down on October 31 in a move that promises improved voice quality and significant energy savings, according to NTA. “This milestone reflects our commitment to modern, reliable, and eco-friendly telecommunications,” said Christopher Alberttar, NTA’s Inside Plant Supervisor. He acknowledged the contributions of supervisors Rudolph Muller, Grant Kaious, Ray Peter Jr., and the entire NTA team. The transition underscores NTA’s dedication to investing in infrastructure that benefits both customers and the environment, said the telecom. Christopher Alberttar, Giff Johnson, Marshall Islands National Telecommunications Authority., MEC distribution, World Bank funded, Yukiko Muller
